Chicken, Chorizo & Prawn Paella

We prefer not to go out for dinner on Valentines Day to avoid all of the hype, over crowding, stretched service and those persistent rose sellers that make sales by putting guys on the spot in front of their date. So we went for a delicious breakfast instead and I decided to make a Chicken, Chorizo & Prawn Paella for a special dinner.

This was my first attempt and apart from thinking that I had ruined my relatively new induction cooktop it was a huge success. Thankfully the red marks that looked like I had somehow managed to burn the glass turned out to be burnt red paint from my Aldi paella pan and a bit of elbow grease fixed the problem.

I used my Thermomix to chop the garlic and red onion but you could also just crush the garlic and finely dice the onion. I had a couple of cups of homemade chicken stock in the freezer so I used that but you could also just use packaged stock or cubes/powder and water depending on what you have on hand.

1 litre chicken stock

pinch saffron

1 chorizo, thinly sliced

3 skinless chicken thighs, cut into 2 cm cubes
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 red capsicum, deseeded and diced
1 ripe tomato, diced

1 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika

300 g paella rice
100 g frozen peas
200 g frozen peeled green prawns

Salt and pepper to taste
15 g fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 lemon or lime

Place the chicken stock and saffron into a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and set aside.

Heat a large frying pan or paella pan over high heat. Add the chorizo and cook, turning occasionally, for 2-3 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a plate. 

Add the chicken to the pan and cook, turning occasionally, for 2-3 minutes or until brown and heated through. Transfer to a plate.

Add the onion, garlic and capsicum to the pan and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until onion softens. Add the tomato and paprika and cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until aromatic. Return the chorizo and chicken to the pan and stir to combine. 

Sprinkle over the rice and and stir for a couple of minutes so it starts to absorb those lovely flavours. Pour over the chicken stock mixture. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and cook, uncovered, for 15 minutes or until rice is tender and liquid is almost absorbed. Test the rice and add a bit more water if needed.

Scatter the peas and prawns over the rice and cook for 5-10 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and prawns are cooked. Season and remove from heat. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve immediately with wedges of lemon or lime.

Vegetable Rice

Here is a quick and easy recipe using your rice cooker. It can be adapted to use up any vegetables that you have on hand. I only had green capsicum, cauliflower and frozen peas & corn so that's what I used. But this made it predominately green and gold - a great Aussie dish but it would look much better with some red capsicum to liven it up a bit. Swap the chicken stock for vegetable stock if you want to make this a vegetarian dish. You could also cut up some chicken thighs and toss them in as well.



Serves 2

1/2 brown onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3/4 green capsicum, diced
1 cup cauliflower florets
1/2-3/4 cup basmati rice
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp hot ground chilli (optional)
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 1/4 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup frozen peas & corn
1 spring onion, sliced to serve
fresh green herbs to serve

Place all ingredients except spring onion and herbs in your rice cooker bowl and stir to combine. Switch to the Cook setting.

When it switches to the Warm setting remove the lid and fluff up. Spoon onto plates and top with spring onion and any other green herbs of your choosing.

Brown Rice Salad

This salad is great to make in large batches and use for several meals throughout the week. It can be served warm or cold.

Some ideas for using this healthy salad:
- Serve along side a grilled chicken breast, tuna or salmon steak, or lean pork chop, topped with spicy mango salsa.
- Serve on a bed of lettuce for a quick, tasty, hearty lunch
- Stuff into pita pocket or wrap & add crunchy romaine or other greens.
- Make a quick tortilla soup by adding a couple cups to low sodium chicken broth, add diced chicken & baked corn tortilla strips.
- Freeze in portion size containers for any of these uses. (when freezing, don't add avocado to entire batch, add fresh when using)

30 Minutes to Prepare and Cook

8 cups cooked brown rice
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed well
3 roma tomatoes, diced
1 medium red onion, diced
1 mango, diced
2 firm, yet ripe avocados
1/2 red capsicum, diced
1/2 yellow capsicum, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 bunch fresh coriander
juice of 2 limes
1/4 cup olive oil
4 tbsp teriyaki sauce
1/4 tsp cumin
sea salt & freshly cracked black pepper
Optional: diced jalepenos

Cook rice in rice cooker, fluff & allow to cool.
Chop all fresh ingredients.
Mix olive oil, teriyaki sauce, garlic & lime juice in small bowl.
Toss all ingredients in large bowl, season with cumin, salt & pepper to taste.

Makes 12 portions

Nutritional Info

Servings Per Recipe: 12

Nutritional Value Per Serving
Calories: 286.1
Total Fat: 10.6 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 520.5 mg
Total Carbs: 44.1 g
Dietary Fiber: 6.6 g
Protein: 6.3 g

Adapted from a recipe submitted by KGBRACKETT on SparkRecipes

Saffron Scented Chicken Pilaf

This is delicious. I used Jalna Genuine Leben European Style Yoghurt for the marinade and about 8 cardamom seeds instead of pods because that is all I could find. The rice turned out perfectly and the toasted nuts were delicious. The dish looks amazing with yellow rice and contrasting green parsley and pistachios over the top. I'll definitely be making this again.

2 chicken breasts, diced
100g natural yogurt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
saffron
4 cups chicken stock
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
500g Basmati rice
1 lemon, zest and juice
3-4 cardamom pods
cashews
pine nuts
flaked almonds
1 tablespoon olive oil, extra
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
slivered pistachios

Marinate chicken breast in yogurt and cinnamon in the refrigerator for a few hours.Stir saffron into chicken stock and set aside.Add butter and oil to a large pan. Add rice and stir until coated.
Add stock/saffron and the zest and juice of 1 lemon. Add cardamom pods and stir well.
Cover and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is cooked.
Toast cashews, pine nuts and almonds in a dry frypan until they are golden, set aside.
Take chicken out of marinade and place on a paper towel to absorb some of the marinade.
Add oil to frypan and fry chicken until golden.
Fluff up rice with a fork, grains should be separated.
Add chicken and most of the toasted nuts to the rice and toss with two forks.
Sprinkle the remaining toasted buts, parsley and pistachios over the top and serve.

Serves 6-8

Source: Nigella Lawson

Nasi Goreng

1 ½ Tbs peanut oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
300g rump steak, thinly sliced
1 onion, halved, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushes
3 rashers bacon, chopped
4 cups cooked rice (see note)
1 cup small cooked prawns, peeled
2 TBS ketcap manis (see note)
4 spring onions, sliced
1 Lebanese cucumber, cut into strips
prawn crackers, to serve

Heat wok over medium heat until hot. Add 3 tsp oil. Swirl to coat. Add eggs.
Swirl to form an omelette. Cook for 1 minute. Remove. Roll up. Cut into strips.
Increase heat to high. Add remaining 3 tsp oil and beef to wok. Stir fry for 1 minute.
Add onion, garlic and bacon. Cook for 2 minutes, or until onion is light golden.
Add rice, prawns, ketcap manis, spring onions and three-quarters of the egg strips to the wok. Stir fry for 3 minutes, or until heated through. Spoon into serving bowls. Top with cucumber strips and remaining egg. Serve with prawn crackers.

Note 1: 1 1/3 cups raw rice, cooked, will give you 4 cups cooked rice. It is best cooked the day before then refrigerated until required.

Note 2: Ketcap manin is a thick and sweet Indonesian soy sauce. Look for it in the Asian section of your supermarket.

Serves 4

Source: Super Food Ideas magazine. April 2004. P18

Chicken rice with almonds

I've got a pantry literally stacked to the ceiling but keep filling my shopping trolley every week so I really need to start incorporating more pantry items into my meals. So for dinner tonight I made Chicken rice with almonds with one of the six pouches SunRice brown basmati that I picked up on special weeks ago and I'm sure it will reheat well for my lunch tomorrow.

Chicken rice with almonds
250g pouch SunRice brown basmati
250g chicken thigh fillet, diced
2 Tbs vegetable oil
1 onion, diced
2 Tbs mild Indian curry paste
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 Tbs raisins
salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbsp toasted slivered almonds

Place chicken and curry paste in a bowl, mix and set aside.
Heat oil in a saucepan, saute onion, add marinated chicken and stir fry for a few minutes until chicken is golden brown.
Add stock and raisins and simmer for 2 minutes.
Place opened basmati rice pouch in microwave for 90 seconds.
Stir rice into chicken and add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve, garnished with slivered almonds.

Serves 2


Monday, February 23, 2009
I used a smoked chicken breast, Thai red curry paste and sultanas as that's what I had on hand. It reheated really well in the microwave - I just made sure I added a touch of water to keep everything moist.

Friday, April 3, 2009
I made this again tonight using two chicken breasts, Thai green curry paste & sultanas and it was still delicious. This recipe would be just as simple and tasty no matter what type of chicken or curry paste is used. It will definitely become a regular fixture on my mid-week meal rotation.
With the recipe split into 3 and made with these variations it comes to 320 cal / 1337 kj per serve, leaving plenty of calories in my daily allowance for a glass of wine and some yoghurt for dessert :-)